Fishing, and particularly fly fishing, is enjoyed by many in the United States and throughout the world. Fly fishing is performed with a rod, a reel mounted upon the rod, a fly line assembly upon the reel and rod, and a fly attached to the end of the fly line assembly. The angler uses this structure to cast a fly. The angler attempts to place the fly where a fish will take it. The fly line assembly often comprises a quantity of backing line wound upon the reel which is attached to a fly line which is in turn attached to a leader, attached to a tippet. The tippet is tied to the fly. Often, when an angler is fishing, the angler will wish to tie on a new fly, change a fly or change the weight of the tippet material being used. Often, an angler will fish for an extended period of time using the same rod, reel, fly line and leader. The angler may change flies frequently and often needs to renew or change the tippet as well.
Because the fly and the tippet are frequently changed or renewed, anglers often carry numerous flies and several spools of tippet with them while fishing.
Tippet material is often sold to anglers at large sporting goods stores, smaller fly fishing shops, and other retail establishments. Tippet material is frequently sold on small spools containing about 30 meters of tippet material. Tippet material is available from a number of different sources in many, many different types and sizes. Thus, the material from which the tippet is constructed varies. Some tippet is fabricated from fluorocarbon polymers. Other tippet is fabricated from nylon polymers. Tippets are compounded to have different stiffnesses. Tippets have different surface characteristics affecting their ability to hold a knot. Tippets also come in different diameters. Diameter is usually expressed in two ways. The diameter of tippet is specified in thousandths of an inch and also in a conventional tippet scale with designations such as “4×” and “6×”. Tippet also has a variety of tensile strength. Because several different tippets may be appropriate for fishing on a given day at a given location, retailers often display a large number of various tippets for purchase by anglers. One popular method of displaying tippets is upon pegs fixed to a wall. A retailer will frequently display many different types and sizes of tippets on individual peg for review and purchase by consumers.
As previously stated, anglers often carry more than one spool of tippet when fishing. Some anglers prefer to place individual spools of tippet in pockets in a vest. Other anglers prefer to stack several tippets of varying sizes or characteristics together for use while fishing.
Thus, it is desirable to package tippets on spools which are inexpensive but also easy for a retailer to sell and also easy for an angler to carry either in pockets or in a stack while allowing the easy dispensing of tippet in use.